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The surprising social mobility of Victorian Britain

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  • Jason Long

Abstract

This paper derives new estimates of social mobility in England and Wales between 1851 and 1901, using a large new dataset of fathers and sons linked across censuses from 1851-1881 and 1881-1901. Mobility rates were substantially greater than has been previously estimated, to the extent that mobility in the 1850s was only slightly less than in the 1970s. The development of mass public education in England after 1870 thus had surprisingly modest effects over the long run. Earnings mobility increased moderately for the first generation under public education (1881-1901), but did not increase over the course of the twentieth century. Copyright , Oxford University Press.

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  • Jason Long, 2013. "The surprising social mobility of Victorian Britain," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 17(1), pages 1-23, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:ereveh:v:17:y:2013:i:1:p:1-23
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ereh/hes020
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    Cited by:

    1. David de la Croix & Eric B. Schneider & Jacob Weisdorf, 2019. "Childlessness, celibacy and net fertility in pre-industrial England: the middle-class evolutionary advantage," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 223-256, September.
    2. Semrad, Alexandra, 2015. "Educational expansion and social composition of secondary schools: evidence from Bavarian school registries 1810-1890," Discussion Papers in Economics 25261, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    3. Felix Meier zu Selhausen & Marco H. D. van Leeuwen & Jacob L. Weisdorf, 2018. "Social mobility among Christian Africans: evidence from Anglican marriage registers in Uganda, 1895–2011," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 71(4), pages 1291-1321, November.
    4. Jørgen Modalsli, 2017. "Intergenerational Mobility in Norway, 1865–2011," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 119(1), pages 34-71, January.
    5. David de la Croix & Eric B. Schneider & Jacob Weisdorf, 2017. ""Decessit sine prole" Childlessness, Celibacy, and Survival of the Richest in Pre-Industrial England," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2017001, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    6. Vegard Iversen & Anirudh Krishna & Kunal Sen, 2016. "Rags to riches? Intergenerational occupational mobility in India," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 042016, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    7. Clark, Gregory & Cummins, Neil, 2013. "Surnames and social mobility: England 1230-2012," Economic History Working Papers 54515, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    8. begard Iversen & Anirudh Krishna & Kunal Sen, 2017. "Beyond poverty escapes – social mobility in the Global South: A survey article," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 172017, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    9. Berger, Thor & Engzell, Per & Eriksson, Björn & Molinder, Jakob, 2023. "Social Mobility in Sweden before the Welfare State," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 83(2), pages 431-463, June.
    10. Krzysztof Karbownik & Anthony Wray, 2019. "Educational, Labor-market and Intergenerational Consequences of Poor Childhood Health," NBER Working Papers 26368, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Santiago Caballero, Carlos, 2018. "Social mobility in nineteenth century Spain : Valencia, 1841-1870," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH 27620, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.
    12. Bennett, Robert J. & Montebruno, Piero & Van Lieshout, Carry & Smith, Harry, 2022. "Business entry and exit: career changes of proprietors in England and Wales (1851-81) using record-linkage," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113867, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Modalsli, Jørgen, 2015. "Estimating occupational mobility with covariates," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 77-80.
    14. Nina Boberg-Fazlić & Paul Sharp, 2018. "North and south: long-run social mobility in England and attitudes toward welfare," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 12(2), pages 251-276, May.
    15. Julián Costas-Fernández & José-Alberto Guerra & Myra Mohnen, 2020. "Train to Opportunity: the Effect of Infrastructure on Intergenerational Mobility," Documentos CEDE 18591, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    16. Giacomin Favre, 2019. "Bias in social mobility estimates with historical data: evidence from Swiss microdata," ECON - Working Papers 329, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    17. Meier zu Selhausen, Felix P. & van Leeuwen, Marco H.D. & Weisdorf, Jacob L., 2015. "Social Mobility among Christian Africans: Evidence from Ugandan Marriage Registers 1895-2011," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 239, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    18. Giacomin Favre & Joël Floris & Ulrich Woitek, 2018. "Intergenerational mobility in the 19th century: micro-level evidence from the city of Zurich," ECON - Working Papers 274, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    19. Giacomo Gabbuti, 2022. "''Non-Competing Social Groups''? The Long Debate on Social Mobility in Italy (c. 1890-1960)," LEM Papers Series 2022/32, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    20. Clark, Gregory & Cummins, Neil, 2013. "Intergenerational mobility in England, 1858-2012. Wealth, surnames, and social mobility," Economic History Working Papers 54513, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    21. Zhu, Ziming, 2022. "Like father like son? Intergenerational immobility in England, 1851-1911," Economic History Working Papers 117588, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.

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